Russia to construct Egypt’s first nuclear power plant

March 02 2015

Andréi Retinger

specially for RIR

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Egyptian counterpart announced in early February that the two countries plan to jointly build Egypt's first nuclear power plant, as well as boost trade relations and investments. Source: RIA Novosti/Mihail Medzel

Russian atomic energy agency Rosatom has a preliminary deal to construct first nuclear power plant in Egypt.

At a meeting in Cairo in early February, Russian President Vladimir Putin
and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah
el-Sisi, Russia and Egypt concluded a preliminary agreement on the
construction of the first nuclear power plant in Egypt.

According to a project
development agreement signed by Sergei Kiriyenko, the head of Russian atomic
energy agency Rosatom, and Egypt's
Minister of Electricity and Renewable Energy Mohamed Shaker, Rosatom will
construct four latest-generation nuclear power plant units that include enhanced
safety systems developed after the disaster at Japan’s
Fukushima
nuclear power plant.

All the necessary agreements
and contracts are expected to be signed before the end of the year.

"In a very short
period of time, we need to prepare for the signing of two intergovernmental
agreements - one on nuclear power plant construction and one on financing.
During the negotiations, we have been set the task to perform at maximum speed,
and Rosatom is ready for that,” Kiriyenko said, according to World Nuclear
News.

"Russia has plenty of experience it can share
with Egypt.
It will allow to satisfy the needs of Egypt in electric energy,” al-Sisi
said during the visit.

The deal is an important one
for Rosatom because Egypt is
traditionally an ally of the United
States, and Rosatom’s main competition on
the world market comes from American nuclear companies.

According to independent
nuclear power expert Alexander Uvarov, however, the nuclear power deal between Russia and Egypt is unlikely to affect the bigger
picture of geopolitical interests in the region.

"The risk that Cairo will reject allied relations with the United States
because of the Russian nuclear technology is miniscule," Uvarov said.

One more partner in the Middle East

Rosatom is already actively
cooperating with other countries in the Middle East.
In September 2014, the company signed an agreement with Jordan to work on the construction of nuclear
power plants in the province
of Zarqa.

The Russian firm is planning
to build two power plants with a total capacity of 2,000 MW at the Jordanian
site. At the moment, a feasibility study of the project and environmental
impact assessment are underway.

Russia’s cooperation with Iran on the construction of the
Bushehr nuclear power plant is well known. Last year, industry publication
Power Engineering named the first unit of the Bushehr power plant its “project
of the year” for 2014 in
the nuclear power category. The first unit of the Kudankulam nuclear power
plant in India
was recognized as the runner-up in the project of the year competition.

Both units were built by
Rosatom subsidiary Atomstroyexport from a Russian design.

"Our foreign colleagues,
including the German nuclear scientists, were without exaggeration stunned by
the fact that Rosatom still managed to finish and put into operation the first
Iranian block. Many believed that it was impossible to do and that the project
was only political PR for Iran
and Russia,"
Atomstroyexport Vice President Vladimir Pavlov told RIR.

In November 2014, the Atomic
Energy Organization of Iran signed a new agreement with Moscow
under which eight nuclear reactors of Russian design will be built Iran as a
"turnkey" project, in which a power plant is sold to a utility after
completion. It was the largest nuclear power agreement between the two
countries to date.

As part of the agreement, four
units will be built at the Bushehr nuclear power plant, and the other four at
another location, which has not yet been selected.

According to Rosatom representatives,
global fears over Iran’s
nuclear development does not concern Russia’s
nuclear projects in Iran because
they are purely peaceful and do not involve the transfer of any dual-use
technology to Iran.
Moreover, the projects are implemented under the supervision of the International
Atomic Energy Agency and are not affected by international sanctions.